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Mommy Blogger Plagiarizer

Not the Highest Form of Flattery

So the blogosphere was set alight yet again. No, not another Twitter party shutdown. This time, Kristin Ruiz, who writes a pregnancy blog for Babble, was accused of lifting copy from another mom blogger, Amy Storch of Amalah and Alpha Mom.

Funny enough, Ruiz's blog on Babble was uncannily similar to that of Storch, as it traced the events of her pregnancy timeline back in 2008. Maybe Ruiz thought no one would notice if she copied a line (or two or three) on her Babble blog, as well as her own site, Our Ordinary Life...I doubt very much that she didn't know what she was doing was wrong, let alone illegal.

For her part Storch addressed Ruiz with aplomb:

"The writing you stole was written about my second pregnancy. It is all very near and dear to me, and I am fiercely protective of it, as I’m sure you understand. What you did was like someone swiping your belly pics and was passing them off as their own: creepy, invasive and wrong. I imagine if that happened to you, you would waste no time in leading an Internet charge against that person, no matter what excuses they offered."

Of course the proverbial hit the fan. Fortunately Babble responded quickly, firing Ruiz on the spot and deleting the questionable posts.

Ruiz's response wasn't as contrite as you might expect:

"I have been recently told that I have plagiarized your whole articles, and never intended to steal anything. I took some great lines and did not cite them, which was a big mistake. I am now just 27 and learning everyday as I grow how to avoid these mistakes in the future. I never meant to hurt anyone or steal from anyone."

"Just 27." Seriously? I remember learning about plagiarism way back in Grade 10—at what, 15? Citing someone is certainly flattering, and the internet is all about exchanging ideas and information. But before you do, remember there's that nifty little keystroke known as the quotation mark. It's not hard to use.